Modern electronic file systems typically store files in a hierarchical tree structure. Each node of the tree is considered a folder that contains one or more files. Typically, in such electronic file systems the location of an item is limited by the organization defined the file system. For example, in many file systems each file is located in one (and only one) folder. In other words, each file has only one direct parent. Although this may have been fine years ago, this tree structure is becoming quite limiting. Traditional hierarchical tree structures are inflexible; in a tree, file lifetime and file organization are conflated. That is, a file can exist only while it has a location organized relative to other files or folders. In addition, a file cannot be placed in multiple organizations. This means that if a user wishes to view a file in multiple folders, for example, the user must make multiple copies of the file. This is both tedious and error-prone for the user, as well as wasteful of storage space.
There is a need to develop a new electronic file system organizational structure that more easily allows users to share access to files, as well as to control that access. With this organizational structure come new challenges in managing the items in that organizational structure.